Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Collars….Day One Hundred, Sixty Two

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Before I get into the meat of my blog, I have to thank Lexy from Gone for a Walk for awarding me the (drum roll please) Versatile Blogger Award.  There are requirements that come with accepting this award; so I will be blogging about this award soon.  I promise.

So about collars, there are at least two people I have met on the trail, that don’t have collars on their dogs.  This is perplexing to me for a couple of reasons.

Since your dog is required to be licensed, the collar holds the town license which provides information about you and your dog, should you ever become separated.   The collar also holds the rabies tag indicating to anyone who might find or encounter your dog, that the dog has been vaccinated for rabies.  The rabies tag also has your veterinarian‘s name and phone number AND your veterinarian has your name and phone number.

The other reason I can think of is, what if you have to grab a hold of your dog or separate your dog from an aggressive dog.  In my opinion, you should also ALWAYS have your leash on you.  It makes sense and it makes you a responsible dog owner.

What Is Really Best For Your Dog…Day One Hundred Fifty Five

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If I have learned anything from having Sampson and then Delilah it’s this…no two dogs are alike.

Sampson is Mr. Friendly, when he sees another dog regardless of whether he is leashed or not, he wants to greet the dog.  Once he ran out in the street to greet a pit bull; he was rewarded for his efforts by a nip on his ear.

Delilah on the other hand has become very unfriendly to other dogs when she is on leash.  On Saturday our friends joined us on our walk; as we entered the park all the dogs were on leash.  Amelia who Delilah knows from Thursday night obedience class came a little too close for Delilah’s comfort and Delilah growled at her.

Yesterday as we were leaving the park Delilah was on leash and I saw some dogs tentatively approaching us, I tried to maneuver Delilah so we would not be involved in a greeting, but quickly realized that the dogs were coming faster than I anticipated and a meeting was inevitable; I unleashed her.

I made the decision (as the person who knows my dog best) as to what was best for her; the dogs all met, and then we went on our way with no altercations of any kind.

Today when we got to the park, the lady with the little pit bull was leaving; she had her dog on the gentle leader and was trying her best to keep her dog from approaching mine.  I had Delilah leashed and tried to distract her with meat, but she would have none of it; in the end I had to grab her collar and pull her away.  She resisted.  To an observer, it would have looked like I was DRAGGING a dog, who was trying desperately to get away from me, as she twisted, growling and snarling trying to get to the other dog.

I knew Delilah was not going to sit while the lady with the dog passed, so once again I made a decision about what I thought was right for my dog.

My point is this; there are many passionate, well-meaning dog lovers who will gladly share with you their thoughts on what is appropriate or inappropriate in training your dog (me being one of them.)  I listen, I love to hear what other people think, I will consider anything (short of physically man-handling my dog) but in the end, I do what I think is right and what I feel comfortable with and you should too.

No one knows your dog better than you do and no one knows what is best for your dog, except for you.

She doesn’t look like she would hurt a fly.

Second Opinions….Day One Hundred, Fifty Four

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If your doctor gave you a diagnosis which required medication that could severely impact your quality of life and the illness had no known cure; would you simply accept this and take the medication or would you seek a second opinion?  Most people I know would insist upon a second opinion.

Sadly in the canine world, many people simply accept the diagnosis handed to their pet and proceed accordingly.  To date, Delilah has had three (for lack of a better word) incidents;  finally after the third one, our vet said, “Without having seen it happen, I would have to say she is having a seizure.  If it continues or become worse, we will have to put her on medication.”

I was devastated.  I went online and googled seizure medication for dogs and found out that the side effects of the anti-seizure medications were horrible.  I remember saying to myself, no wonder people put their dogs to sleep, what a horrible way to live.  I e-mailed my friend Jo-Anne, who has two dogs and tries to keep her treatments as holistic as possible, I asked her if she knew of any vets who treated seizures holistically.   She immediately gave me her work number and said, “Call me.”

After chatting with her, I felt better.  Jo-Anne used a holistic Dr. who made house calls, and he was going to be at her house the next day!  She called Dr. Landau and asked him if he would have time to see Delilah, his time was tight so Jo-Anne generously gave up Dr. Landau’s time with one of her dogs.

Dr. Landau met Delilah at our house on March 31, 2010.

Look at her face, you can see how sad and miserable she feels.

While Dr. Landau examined Delilah we talked, he asked questions I answered.   Dr. Landau thought Delilah’s incidences sounded more like pain than seizures.  He thought Delilah might have a pinched nerve or slipped disc.  Dr. Landau gave Delilah an ultra-sound treatment and some acupuncture.

Dr. Landau said when someone has been traumatized their pulse should be fast and shallow; Delilah’s pulse was slow and deep.  He prescribed a Chinese herb called Xiao Chai Hu Tang which would get her pulse where it should be so her body could heal.  He also prescribed a herb called Body Sore, to help with any residual pain she might have.  He requested she be seen by him in two weeks and also wanted her to get an x-ray to see if anything obvious showed up.  He suggested she lose some weight as extra weight could be a factor by placing additional strain on her back

When Dr. Landau left, you could see the change in Delilah, she looked more relaxed and more like herself.  She even ran to the window to look at a squirrel.

Relaxed and feeling more like her old self.

Dr. Landau communicated his findings to our vet who thought he was wonderful; as do I.  Our follow-up visit was two weeks later and he gave his seal of approval.  Delilah had her x-rays last June and thankfully nothing jumped out.  So far, she is 13 months healthy and I for one am so grateful I didn’t just accept the diagnosis of seizures; I can’t imagine the life she would have had if we hadn’t sought a second opinion.

If you are interested in the details of what Delilah’s been through, I will be working on the complete story and will put that up on the blog.  I will let you know once it’s done.

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